OpenRFPs scrapes government contracting opportunities.

What it is.

The Open RFPs Project is modeled after Sunlight Labs' OpenStates. Open RFPs collects and makes available data about contracting activities, including RFP listings as well as awards, and makes that information available in a standardized format.

Why we built it.

Because citizens have a right to know what kinds of RFPs their governments are releasing to the public, who is being awarded these contracts, and how much those projects cost.

Because we want to open up the marketplace, and we believe that process starts with usability and accessibility. State procurement websites are very challenging to use by even highly computer-literate individuals, to say nothing of automating the bidding process.

Code

Join us on GitHub to start writing code immediately. We've chosen Node.js because of its module-loading implementation, its accessibility to the programming community ("Everyone knows Javascript!"), and its asynchronous-by-default approach. Writing scrapers in node is a lot of fun -- take a look and give it a try.

Document

Don't write code, but still eager to get involved? We'd love your help in building our list of state procurement listing sites.

We're also working to build a spec that will let governments submit a feed to their data should they choose, instead of having us scrape it from them. If this interests you, get in touch!